Anna Nicole and the American Dream

The Project for Excellence in Journalism monitored coverage of war and politics vs. coverage of Anna Nicole Smith’s death and wacko astronaut lady. The results won’t exactly shock you.

For the first time this year, “tabloid gold” fever seized at least some of the news media last week in a significant way, according to PEJ’s News Coverage Index from February 4 to February 9. Though it only made up two days of coverage, the sudden death of the Playmate turned heiress turned reality star was the No. 3 story in the news last week, almost edging out a bloody week in Iraq.

And that may be understating the feel of the coverage. The bosomy blonde’s demise consumed a staggering 50% of the cable newshole PEJ examined on February 8 and 9. Those are levels reminiscent of those pre-9/11 celebrity sagas—think Princess Di and JFK Jr.

The content of the news coverage, according to PEJ, “ran from police procedural to racy, with a little bit of moralizing about celebrity culture—what killed her, who fathered her infant, and where her money would go. The February 9 headline in the New York Post, “CSI Probe in Siren Shocker,” seemed to sum it up.”

I’ve been reading a bunch of mass communication theory stuff lately for my thesis project, and there’s one theory of mass communication that the purpose of the media is to tell stories about society that help hold society together, point out what’s acceptable and what’s deviant. I think the life times and media coverage of Anna Nicole Smith might be a PEFECT example of that. Farm girl turned famous Guess model — the system works, horatio alger and all that, america loves you, yay! This is the American Dream, Lana Turner, etc. etc. Wait, you used to be a stripper? Bad girl! BUt, okay, we’ll forgive you, as long as you repent and keep your clothes on — American loves second chances. Wait, you’re going to marry an old guy? Stupid gold-digging bitch. Oh my god, you got fat? Let’s make a TV show mocking you! Let’s make you into a cultural joke. See kids — don’t get fat! Don’t get sloppy. Don’t marry old men. This is NOT culturally acceptable. Oh, you got thin and then died? We’ll forgive all your transgressions. We love dead icons here. Go USA!

Or, as my friend Kit said, “While it’s tragic for anyone to die that young and it’s horrible that she leaves an infant child behind, she did seem to lead a disposable life and no one cut her any slack while she was alive,” so the sanguine media coverage of her death is just sort of puke-inducingly disingenuous and disgusting.

{Britney Spears is another good one who’s a perfect example of do-this-do-not-do-this-this-is-what-is-acceptable-this-is-what’s-deviant media coverage)